US teen charged with piracy

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A teenager has been indicted in Silicon Valley on charges he
covertly filmed new films in theatres and then distributed copies
on the internet, federal prosecutors say.

The indictments against 19-year-old Curtis Salisbury stem from a
crackdown on "warez" websites that made illegal copies of films,
games and computer software available online, Luke Macauley of the
US attorney's office said on Thursday.

Salisbury is among those targeted in the western state of
California as a result of "Operation Site Down," an alliance of
international police bent on ferreting out online piracy, according
to Macauley.

Salisbury is suspected of having used a hand-held camcorder to
record screenings of the films The Perfect Man and
Bewitched in June. Copies of the films were then uploaded
for distribution through "warez" sites, according to
prosecutors.

The purported pirate advised site handlers about how to delete
data that would enable people to identify the theatre in which the
copies were made, Macauley said.

Salisbury requested to be paid by money order sent to a post
office box, according to prosecutors.

Salisbury is charged with conspiracy, copyright infringement and
unauthorised recording of motion pictures in a theatre, the
indictment indicates.

He is the first person being prosecuted under a US law referred
to as the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which President
George Bush signed into law in April 2005, Macauley said.

If convicted as charged, Salisbury could be sentenced to more
than eight years in prison and fined more than $US500,000
($A648,226), plus have film and computer gear he used destroyed,
according to prosecutors.